Mood stabilizers

Dr. Jeffrey Mattes, psychiatrist in Princeton, New Jersey speaks about drug interaction warnings that appear during electronic prescribing and how these warnings may be influenced by drug company promotion.
This interview is part of a series covering the 2018 ASCP Annual Meeting.

James Phelps, MD Director Mood Disorders Program Samaritan Mental Health, Corvallis, OR. Dr. Phelps has no conflicts of interest to disclose. Lamotrigine has a reputation for being slow because of its long titration period. Lamotrigine was just as fast as the olanzapine/fluoxetine combination (OFC) in a trial sponsored by the manufacturer of OFC, Eli Lilly.…

James Phelps, MD Director Mood Disorders Program Samaritan Mental Health, Corvallis, OR. There are two drug interactions with lamotrigine that must be managed with special care. When lamotrigine is added to divalproex and when lamotrigine is used with carbamazepine. If the patient is already on divalproex and you are adding lamotrigine, cut lamotrigine dose…

Sandra A. Jacobson, M.D. Research Associate Professor University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix This presentation discusses selected concepts on the use of mood stabilizers in the elderly. Lithium serum levels are kept low (0.4 and 0.8 mEq/L), even for the treatment of mania in elders. Lithium should be dosed on a once nightly basis with…

By Flavio Guzman, MD Editor Psychopharmacology Institute This page offers direct links to the most recent guidelines for the treatment of bipolar disorder. You may notice that we have not included the guidelines published by the American Psychiatric Asssociation, this is because the document has not been updated since 2005. 2017 -Mixed Depression and Mixed…

By Flavio Guzman, MD . This brief article summarizes the clinical uses of valproate in psychiatry. We discuss FDA-approved indications as well as off-label uses. Instead of an exhaustive review, this is a practical summary for clinicians. The term valproate includes a number of formulations, such as: Valproid acid Divalproex sodium Divalproex sodium extended release…